Double Blind
4
The house the Doctor lived in was, despite the very idea of the Doctor having any sliver of permanence being incomprehensible, exactly the kind of building Yaz had come to expect. While it couldn't travel through time and space – that she knew of – she was comforted some when they were taken into a room on the first floor, a door with a biometric lock that led into a well-protected but wondrous room. She was struck with the same sense of awe as entering the TARDIS for the first time, and it was appropriately bigger on the inside. For a brief moment, she thought the entire left-hand wall was a window out to the night, and it took her a moment to realise that what she was actually looking at was a vast screen from the distant future showing far-away galaxies, twinkling stars and black holes. It was also laid out like a duplex, with an additional top floor built like an extended balcony above them, a spiral staircase leading up to the second level. The walls were lined with bookshelves carrying tomes even more ancient and mysterious than the ones in the rest of the house, and there were tables and workbenches covered in gadgets and machinery. A futuristic grand piano, with strange, smooth designs and a shining veneer was off to one side, an antique phonograph sitting on a table next to it offering an odd contrast; along with these, a red electric guitar was leaning against the piano, but Yaz didn't know enough about musical instruments to identify it. A pair of large, fancy armchairs was nestled in one corner with a small, circular table between them covered in coffee rings and a worn-down copy of Les Misérables, and then, on the far side of the room-
"Is that a trampoline!?" Ryan exclaimed. It was a trampoline, and it was taking up quite a lot of the room, which was a little smaller than a standard school assembly hall.
"I wouldn't use it," Clara warned him, "It's right under the balcony. Somebody banged their head on it last week."
"Yeah, okay," said the American Doctor, irked, as the eight of them filed into the room.
"Why put it there?" Ryan asked.
"There's nowhere else," said the American Doctor.
"Could get rid of it," said Clara, "Throw it out." The Doctor glared at her. It seemed like the trampoline was a point of contention.
"It was a good deal." Clara shook her head and crossed her arms, obviously very annoyed about the trampoline's presence.
"Right, then," the British Doctor put her hands together, beckoning for them all to huddle together around her, "What do we know? Let's compile our knowledge. Hit me with some facts." The American remained unimpressed by her counterpart. Ryan thought she was a lot more easy-going without another Doctor there but fell into a sulk whenever she was around her other self.
"Well, the John Doe in the morgue and this zombie were obviously both visited by the same people," said Sally, "Since we have two of these weird eyes."
"Yeah," said Rose, "And the woman in the house said she could see this Dexter Willard's innards, and stuff, so he must have died violently too. You can't rot that much in a few days."
"We also know that the John Doe was a Manifest, but the medical examiner lied about it in the autopsy report," added Clara.
"And that somebody paid him off and probably other members of the police, too," said Yaz.
"Not to mention a couple of men in black pretending to be coppers just to kidnap the zombie from the graveyard," said Graham.
"And it was like they were expecting people to come back to life," Ryan finished, "Or at least hoping for it."
"Good info dump," the British Doctor gave them a thumbs up. "So our next step is finding out where these eyes came from. We do that, and maybe we can find where Dexter was taken."
"Someone should look at the other murders, too," said the American Doctor, "See if any of the other victims were Manifests."
"I wouldn't count on finding much," said Sally, "As Yaz said, someone's paying off the police, bribing them to keep quiet. These deaths aren't being logged properly. The crime scene reports say there was a violent murder, then the pathologist comes back and says it was just a heart attack or a suicide. But who would rip out their own intestines?"
"Well, maybe some of them were officially documented, I know there's a database," said the American Doctor, "The victims have to have something in common, a reason why they're being killed."
"As far as I know, none of the others have risen from the grave," said Sally, "And I was looking for that sort of thing since this has so much in common with rogue vampire attacks."
"I'm gonna make some more tea, then," Clara decided.
"Bring the computers in while you're at it," the American Doctor told her, then stopped to think, "You know, actually, I'll come with you."
"I can carry the tea by myself," Clara said.
"I know, I just…" she paused, everybody waiting for what she was going to say. She clearly didn't like the scrutiny, though. "…Here, take both eyes, there should be enough stuff over there," she gave her eyeball to the British Doctor and indicated the mess of machinery, leaving the group to follow Clara after she detached herself from them. Clara held the door open for her, pleasantly surprised, but neither of them said a word until it shut behind them.
"You okay?" Clara asked. She didn't say anything. "Sweetheart?"
"I don't know. I'm tired."
Clara paused, then held out her hand, "We'll talk downstairs. It's gonna take a while to make all this tea." The Doctor took it and let Clara gently pull her away from the landing, downstairs, where they might be able to get some peace and quiet. "To think, we were gonna go to the cinema tonight, and then spend the rest of the evening in bed," she whispered.
"You don't think we have time to slip away for a moment, do you?"
"Not without everybody knowing what we're up to."
"But it's our house."
Clara laughed a little as they went into the kitchen. Helix automatically turned the lights on and off for them in every room of the house, which was often the only thing the VI got used for – that and operating the burglar alarm. She dropped the Doctor's hand when she went to fill the kettle.
"God, this is like when the Dimension Crash first happened; us, lurking in a kitchen, making tea for everybody," said Clara.
"You're just really good at making tea," said the Doctor. Clara turned to look at her. "What? Did that sound sarcastic? Honestly – it's really good tea. And you do those lattes with the little hearts in them, it's the sweetest thing in the whole universe." Clara smiled.
"You're the sweetest thing in the whole universe."
"A compliment. You must be worried about me."
"Hey, could you do something for me while we're here?"
"What?"
"Could you make me some toast?" she asked, dishing out teabags into the same eight mugs they'd used earlier; Clara had rinsed them all before they'd left, to stop the milk congealing in the bottom.
"…Okay, but you have to eat it before we go back upstairs, otherwise, everybody else'll want some. You know how humans get with toast. And we don't have enough bread."
"Thanks. I love you."
She laughed, "What's that in aid of?"
"In aid of me loving you. Obviously."
"Uh-huh. I'm not made of glass, Coo," she dropped two slices of bread in the toaster and went to get margarine out of the fridge.
"…What do you think of her, then?" Clara asked carefully.
"What do you think of her?"
"She's a lot better than the last one. Nicer, happier. Female-er. Blonder," said Clara.
"Always with the blondes…"
"She is nice. You don't have to dislike her, you know," Clara pointed out.
"I don't wanna talk about this now."
"Then why did you follow me downstairs?"
"Because I'm stressed out, and being around you calms me down," she said, crossing her arms, irritated – but it was herself she was irritated at. "So could we just talk about… something – anything – else? I mean – how's your head, first of all?"
"Sore. Hope I'm not concussed, I shouldn't have been driving if I am," she said, "Do we have any painkillers?"
"I'll grab them for you," she said. While Clara tried to remember how many sugars everybody took she heard the Doctor rifle through the cupboards. A few seconds later Clara felt a pair of warm arms wrap around her waist, "I forgot to tell you how brave you were standing up to that dirty cop earlier."
Clara smiled when the Doctor kissed her cheek, "How brave I was? Do I get a sticker? Like when children get jabs?"
"Do you want a sticker?"
"Well, I wouldn't say no to a sticker," said Clara, leaning around so she could meet the Doctor's eyes, "Do you still have that sticker maker?"
"No, Sally broke it years ago," she said.
"I'll have another kiss in lieu of a sticker, I suppose," Clara said, leaning towards her. The Doctor was more than happy to oblige, at which point the toast finished and shot up out of the machine.
"Here you go," the Doctor held up a packet of paracetamol after letting her go.
"Urgh, you're a dream. And now you're making me toast."
"Well, you're making me tea."
She lowered her voice, "Maybe we should sneak away for a few minutes. Say there was an emergency, with the neighbours."
"What kind of emergency?"
"The neighbours really wanted us to shag." They were startled when someone knocked on the kitchen doorframe behind them, just as the kettle finished boiling and the Doctor was midway through buttering Clara's toast. It was the other Doctor, come downstairs. Already she was looking sheepish about what she'd just overheard.
"Aren't you meant to be looking into those eyeballs?" Clara's Doctor asked, her frosty demeanour returning. She did not like other Doctors, not any of them; the only one she'd ever been able to abide since regenerating was Tentoo.
"Set your robot off doing it. Thought I'd come and ask you some questions."
"Like what?" asked Clara, pouring the tea into the row of mugs.
"What happened to your arm?" The jovial, upbeat Doctor had suddenly turned stern and serious, scrutinising the pair of them from the doorway of their own home.
"The burn? That was a long time ago."
"I thought you're supposed to heal."
"I'm not going to tell you what happened," Clara said coolly, "You don't need to know."
"Fine. What about Clara? Have you seen her?"
"I'm right here," said Clara.
"When I regenerated, I got my memories of her back, the memories that were erased for… the good of the universe, or something. I know she must be out there somewhere, she's not dead – well, not dead dead – and I know you have a complex about your Echoes," she indicated Clara, who set the kettle down and crossed her arms.
"She's not one of my Echoes, and I haven't seen her since the last time I saw you. What happened to her?" Clara Ravenwood was very much not 'dead dead', she was off gallivanting in their TARDIS with Jenny, but she'd never been able to recover the memories of her own death or the interim period between dying with the Doctor and waking up as a vampire strapped down to a chair. Ashildr had never quite filled in all the details.
"Sacrificed herself to save somebody else's life," said the other Doctor. "Is that what happened to your arm?"
"No. Someone hurt my Echoes, and I was going to hurt them, and Esther stopped me. And now I keep it to remind me to look after them. So fine, you're right, I have a complex, but that doesn't make Beta Clara my responsibility," said Clara, "I suppose if we do run into her, we could pass along a message? Tell her you still fancy her?"
"You've never met anyone called Ashildr, have you?" she ignored that remark.
"No," said Clara's Doctor, "I can't say we have. Are you done interviewing us now?"
She broke into a smile again, "I suppose so. Have you got any biccies?" The Doctor handed Clara a slice of toast, keeping the other for herself.
"No, we were meant to go shopping tomorrow. Matilda's always nicking them and taking them up to her room," said Clara. She wasn't convinced that this new Doctor has ceased being suspicious of them, though.
"What about toast? Could I have some-"
"No more bread."
"Like I said," Clara added, "Shopping tomorrow."
She nodded slowly, thinking, "You know, I'm getting a bit tired of this 'Alpha Universe' 'Beta Universe' thing. We should come up with some better names, don't you think?"
"What? For all of them? There's a lot," said Clara.
"No! For ours. This 'Alpha Doctor,' 'Beta Doctor,' thing is just… old."
"Just because I'm the Alpha Doctor…"
"Alright, sweetheart, maybe she has a point. They have always been shit names," Clara ate her toast. The mugs were stewing.
"Shall I put the milk in those?" the 'Beta' Doctor indicated the mugs behind Clara.
"Oh, sure, go ahead," she stepped aside to stand next to her wife, lingering.
"What about Red-Verse and Blue-Verse?" the 'Alpha' Doctor suggested, "Diamond-Verse and Pearl-Verse? Sun-Verse and Moon-Verse?"
"These are just Pokémon games," said Clara.
"Sword-Verse and Shield-Verse."
"Still Pokémon."
"Coke-Verse and Pepsi-Verse."
"But you hate capitalism," Clara pointed out.
"Well – you suggest something then! You're the one who came up with 'the Unnameable' after all."
"The Unnameable? What's that?" asked the other Doctor, still pouring the milk.
"The universe where all of the Lovecraftian elder gods live," Clara explained, "You want to avoid it. We were there a few months ago because one of them kidnapped Jack and Rose."
"But it's cool," the Doctor resumed, "She's my friend on MSN now. The god. God-thing. She's called Angie, she's the size of a football stadium made of eyes. But you know the worst thing about her? She watches Home and Away. I say watches, she's blind."
"But you just said she's made out of eyes."
"I know. That's irony for you."
"What about," Clara began, "We do a hilarious play on your raging communism and atomic age… thing… and have the Cosmic-Verse and the Astro-Verse. Y'know, like astronauts and cosmonauts."
Finishing her toast, the Alpha Doctor clapped her hands loudly, "You see!? This is why I love this woman. She's a genius. I'm more than happy to be the Cosmic Doctor from this moment forward."
"If only they had Pokémon Communism and Capitalism for you to enjoy," Clara quipped.
"Implies they're both equally valid world-views. Which they aren't. The left will win, Coo," said the Doctor.
"Cute," said Clara.
"Yes, thank you, I'm aware that I'm cute." Clara laughed.
"Right, I think I'm done with this tea," the newly-christened 'Astro Doctor' said, eyeing up the mugs after fishing out the teabags. She was clearly dying to escape before she had to listen to them continue to flirt.
"Do you want a tray so you can take them up? While we finish our toast?" Clara asked, purposely eating her singular slice of toast as slowly as possible with the aim of securing more alone time with her wife. As soon as she said that, the 'Cosmic Doctor' turned to open one of the lower cupboards and retrieve a metal tray.
"Sure. Oh, one more question – Sally Sparrow."
"Yes, she is very attractive," said Clara.
"Not my question. She's a vampire. And you're just fine with that? The last time I checked, Time Lords weren't really supposed to let the Great Vampires go around breeding."
"Well, y'know," said the Doctor, holding out the tray to her other self (Clara knew that her own Doctor also wasn't keen on the vampires multiplying), "Much as I don't like it, she's never killed or even attacked anybody. The blood Oswin clones has always been enough. Besides, if she hasn't bitten Clara yet, I doubt she's going to bite anybody."
"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Clara.
"Just that you throw yourself at her at every opportunity."
Clara paused for a moment, narrowed her eyes, thinking, then sighed, "I suppose I do do that, to be fair."
"If she can resist such easy prey, she can resist anybody," the Doctor shrugged while the 'Astro Doctor' loaded up her tea tray, taking the tea responsibility away from Clara for once.
"Are you trying to imply that I'm easy?" Clara asked.
"You are literally the easiest person I've ever met. You spend as much time screwing yourself as you do letting me have the privilege."
"Leaving now," the other Doctor announced while Clara pretended to be offended by an entirely correct statement.
"Mind the shoes on the stairs," Clara warned, "In case you trip." She disappeared around the corner and into the hall. "So. How long can we stay down here until that lot up there start thinking we're arseholes?"
"I think she's onto us," the Doctor lowered her voice, taking another bite of toast. "About Ravenwood. And she's right – it was you who convinced Oswin to resurrect her with nanogenes."
"Yes, alright, I know, I remember," said Clara, shaking her head, "But what are we supposed to do? You remember the reason she had to abandon her profession, change her name, move to Hollowmire – because of whatever bullshit was going on in their universe. The 'hybrid', or whatever it is Ashildr and Missy have talked about."
"I've never understood that stupid legend. Why is it dangerous for them to travel together but not for us to be married to each other? We don't pose a threat to the greater universe, do we?"
"Quite hard to threaten anything when we've spent most of our time together in bed," she shrugged. "And isn't it just a prophecy? What does it actually say?"
"It says a hybrid creature will destroy Gallifrey and unravel the Web of Time, wiping out trillions to save itself," the Doctor explained.
"Alright, well, if that's true, then it's quite a good reason to keep the two of them apart, just like we've been trying to do for decades."
"And what if it's not true? There's no concrete proof that it does refer to them, just an idea. It has a dozen different interpretations," the Doctor continued, "And you make a good point about us not threatening anybody. Stupid prophecies are always about me – what makes me so damn special?" she complained, "The one who ran away to travel the universe and married a human."
"Well, there's also the fact that…"
"What?"
"I mean… just that, Gallifrey's still gone in our universe. That's not one of the points where we cross over. Is it possible that a prophecy can refer to one thing in one universe and something else in another?"
"Prophecies are only dangerous when you start believing in them, Coo," she said.
"Prophecies like the one heralding your regeneration, you mean?" Clara challenged, "That, 'he will knock four times' thing?"
"Knowing the future and putting all your faith in riddles and mind-games aren't the same thing. And besides, it was just a regeneration, it's not… it's not the end of anything. You know how Ten is, dramatic about regenerating. Look, let's just agree to keep on the way we have been since she died, lying to Other Me to protect her, alright?"
"I suppose, but what's to say they even will pose a danger anymore?" asked Clara as the Doctor made to leave the room having finished her toast. "This new Doctor has new companions, new friends, right? And Ravenwood's been with Jenny for much longer than she ever travelled with a Doctor. I hardly think there's a risk of her leaving Jenny."
"You know what?" the Doctor began, pausing right outside the library, "This discussion is pointless, because it's not our decision to make, and we don't have the time right now to confer with Ravenwood. If she wants to tell the Yorkshire Doctor she's a vampire one day, then that's her prerogative, not ours."
Clara sighed, thinking, "…You're right."
"So, we keep things schtum. And let Sally and Rose know. Well, mainly Sally, we've got trouble on our hands if she slips up and gives away that she's not the only vampire in our inner circle. It won't take the other Doctor long to put two and two together if she hears that."
"Think of an excuse to talk to Sally. Got it," Clara nodded. She opened the door and immediately was accosted by one very angry vampire brandishing an old tome at her.
"I want a word with you, you little shit," Sally said, practically throwing her against the wall.
"Wow, this is just like a dream I've had," said Clara as the Doctor stepped aside, never one to get involved in Clara's disagreements with women.
"This book belongs with the Gutkeled Archive, so why is it in your house?" Sally asked angrily.
"You leant it to me," said Clara, who was in equal parts intimidated and aroused by Sally threatening her – the black eyes and the white fangs really had an effect.
"No. This is a very valuable and old vampire tome from over a thousand years ago, and it needs to be kept in the special conditions of the archive so that it doesn't rot because it's made of human skin."
"You let me have it," Clara told her firmly.
"And why would I do that?" Sally hissed.
"Maybe you thought I was somebody else," Clara said quietly. Sally frowned. "Just take it back and don't bring it up again." Sally stepped away from her, taking the tome and protecting it like it was a baby. The truth of the matter was that Sally had given Clara permission to take the book one morning when she had been very groggily awoken some months ago, and Clara had tricked her into the thinking she was Ravenwood to get 'permission.'
"What's in the book?" the 'Astro' Doctor asked, her suspicion returning. They didn't make a very good case for the presence of vampires with Sally flying off the handle, but she was very protective of that archive.
"It's a chronicle of the Gutkeled bloodline dating back to the Tenth Century," she explained.
"And they wrote it on human skin…?" asked Ryan.
"And in human blood, too," she said, opening it gently. The writing was faded.
"Vampires," the Cosmic Doctor tutted, "So theatrical."
"And the Time Lord with the secret, transdimensional library isn't remotely theatrical?" Sally challenged.
"Forgive me for being a bit rusty with my knowledge of European noble families, but wasn't the Báthory family part of the Gutkeled clan?" the Astro Doctor crossed her arms to interrogate Sally, an expert on vampire history and lineage thanks to her years spent collecting the contents of the Gutkeled Archive. "As in, Elizabeth Báthory, the most prolific female serial killer in human history?"
"Vampire history," said Sally, "But, yes. She's in here. And she's much more prolific than you'd think – do you know she didn't die until the 1880s? She was slain. In Whitby, of all the places."
"And what's your interest in it?"
"I'm just an archivist," Sally said, "I don't believe in any of it."
"Any of what?" asked Yaz. The atmosphere had grown very unpleasant very quickly, people now looking at Sally like she was a real threat.
"Alright, well, you know how humans believe that royals and nobles have special blood, or that the monarch is chosen by god? The divine right of kings, and all that?" Sally began, "Vampires believe the same thing about their bloodlines and it goes by who bit who." And both Clara and her Doctor were aware that Sally and Ravenwood did belong to the Gutkeled bloodline; it had been Elizabeth Báthory wreaking chaos in Whitby when Ravenwood had been bitten by one of Báthory's more pathetic underlings, and Sally had been bitten by Ravenwood out of pity to prevent her from dying of terminal cancer (and because Sally had begged.)
"But you said you were attacked in the street and you don't know who bit you," the Astro Doctor reminded her.
"Yeah, well, like I said, I'm only an archivist. The Gutkeleds have wrought a lot of chaos, what can I say? We have relics from the Basarabs, too. That's, um, Vlad the Impaler's house."
"'We'?"
"Esther and I," said Sally, trying to cover her mistake, "Because, we live together, and the archive is in the cellar of the house we both share."
"Along with your coffin," Clara muttered.
"Shut up, Clara. Anyway, the point is this book doesn't belong here and you stole it," she snapped, "I will be taking it back to Westminster when I leave."
"What? You live in Westminster?" Yaz could hardly believe it.
"Didn't she mention?" Rose said, "Sally's posh and rich. Why do vampires always seem to be posh and rich?"
"I'm not… rich," said Sally, unable to deny being posh. "It's just a house."
"It's an Edwardian mansion just down the road from Parliament which you inherited," Clara said.
"Yes, inherited. I don't have any actual money," she said, "Why are we all quizzing me now? I haven't done anything. She nicked a book from me, and I'm the one who made you aware of these murders – which, by the way, are all connected, so thanks very much, Sally."
"Alright, don't get tetchy," said Rose, "Go drink some blood and get over yourself." Sally grimaced and went with her tome to sit down in one of the armchairs, apparently deciding to disengage herself from their conversation. As she did that, she took out a tell-tale flask and went to sulk.
"Can we, uh, get back to the murders, then? Maybe?" the Astro Doctor suggested.
"Fuck me!" Clara exclaimed, "I forgot to get those shitting laptops… urgh." She vanished in a cloud of smoke.
"Someone needs a cigarette," Sally quipped.
"Don't you encourage her," the Cosmic Doctor warned, "She's trying to quit."
"She's been trying to quit for a very long time, though."
"Still trying. I don't see you trying to renounce blood."
"Erm, that's like trying to renounce food, I'd die," Sally argued. Clara returned shortly, not teleporting for her journey back up the stairs, carrying two computers with her. She phased through the door.
"You shouldn't be teleporting around with your head wound, you know," the Doctor told her off.
"It's an impulse, I can't really control it," Clara defended herself. "Who wants a computer?" It wasn't a contest; each laptop was seized by one of the Doctors. Typical. "What do the rest of us do, then?"
"Do what you usually spend your time doing, I suppose," Sally told her.
"And what might that be?"
"Touching yourself."
"And I'll be sure to think of you while I do it," Clara countered, much to Sally's annoyance.
"Alright, no more talk about wanking," Rose interrupted, "From now on, we only talk about murders. All murders, no wanking." The Cosmic Doctor took the laptop to sit in the other armchair next to Sally, while the Astro Doctor just sat down on the floor. Suddenly, wanking was also the only thing Clara could think about. Well, that and cigarettes.
"Why don't you tell us more about Manifests, then?" Graham stepped up to suggest, "Where do they come from?"
"It's, um… a mutation," Rose began, having to think, "Sorry, it's not really my area of expertise, I think Oswin knows more about it. Or Martha. But Martha's…"
"…It naturally occurs in an incredibly small part of the population," Clara said, "But, the mutation can be forced, with drugs. There was a sort of racket around drugging people and giving them powers, which UNIT tried and failed to contain. Rose and I tried to infiltrate it, ended up drugged, and became Manifests. It's a nasty business, though. They put cigarettes out on my arms."
"Ironic," said Sally.
"I think I remember getting hit in the face with a crowbar, repeatedly," said Rose.
"But – what? Why? Why would anyone do that?" Yaz asked, horrified.
"It needs an adrenaline rush to trigger the powers. A moment of panic, or fear," Clara resumed, "And the most effective way to do that is apparently by torture. Put someone in a life or death situation."
"Ah-ha," the Cosmic Doctor interrupted, "Dexter Willard filed a police report one week ago about being attacked. Says he was grabbed and injected with a syringe, then left in the street. He's not a registered Manifest, either."
"Same for the other victims Sally told us about," the Other Doctor added, "Most of them, actually; minor reports of attacks written off by the police, not registered Manifests, and then they show up dead. Deaths are ruled accidental, just like our John Doe, families none the wiser."
"So, obviously they're being drugged with Xboost," said Clara, "Right? We know it's circulating London and the surrounding areas. These murders have almost entirely been in London and its surrounding areas."
"What about people coming back to life?" Sally asked, "Like Dexter came back to life. Those eyeballs, maybe they want somebody who comes back to life?"
"Why? Why would you want an immortal person?" Ryan asked.
"To reverse-engineer a new serum," said the Astro Doctor, getting an epiphany, "Is that possible? To create specific Manifests, with specific powers? Instead of just letting it be random?"
"UNIT did that," said Rose, "Years ago. In 2017. There were all these werewolves, but they were actually Manifests with the power to turn into wolves."
"So maybe somebody wants to make a Manifest serum capable of turning people immortal. Immortality just, at will. Hence the eyeballs. They alert these 'agents', and they show up and take Dexter alive. He's the one they must want, the one who came back," said the Astro Doctor.
"And they got him," said Graham, "They were long gone by the time we arrived."
"So we need to find someone with pull with the police, access to high-end technology, and the ability to make Xboost?"
"Maybe this is all to do with Xboost?" Clara suggested, "Maybe this is where the Xboost is coming from, this is why it's circulating, because of some… conspiracy."
"Doctor," Helix's smooth voice came floating out of the subtle speakers installed throughout the house, "I have located the destination of the transmissions the ocular devices are emitting. They are being routed to a facility in London. The facility is registered to-" All the lights went out, including both glowing laptop screens, and they were thrown into complete darkness.
"What's going on?" Yaz asked.
"Power cut, I guess," said the Cosmic Doctor.
"A power cut that sucks the electricity out of laptops disconnected from a power source?" the Astro Doctor questioned. The lights began to flash and flicker wildly overhead, Helix's voice stuttering and cutting in and out like he was glitched. Then the lightbulbs themselves blew and shattered. Both Doctors put down the computers immediately, panicking, trying to work out what was going on. But they didn't have to speculate for long.
There was an explosion of blue light in the middle of the room, electricity rushing through the air and making everyone's hair stand on end, imbued with static. And there stood the Lightning Girl, but it was far from a friendly reunion. Esther's costume had burn marks on it, scorched holes and soot, and she wobbled in the midst of the group. When her helmet retracted she gasped for breath and collapsed.
"Esther!" Sally exclaimed, going to her side so quickly it was as though she could teleport, too. "Oh my god, oh my god, Esther, what happened?" She tried to shake Esther and the Doctor heard Esther whisper something unintelligible. "What? What did you say? Esther! Somebody do something!" Sally demanded, "Save her! She's drained! She'll die without electricity! What's happened to you? What have they done?" she pleaded with Esther directly. All eyes turned to the Cosmic Doctor, while Rose produced one of her golden, glowing orbs to give them light in lieu of working bulbs.
"We need to electrocute her," she said, thinking quickly, "So, um-"
Mattie burst through the door behind her, "What's going on? All the lights in my room just exploded-"
"Mattie! Esther's in trouble, I need you to go into the kitchen and find the serving fork – it's gourmet and made of copper, Jenny got it for me. It's the big, long fork with two sharp tongs, okay? Go, now," she pushed Matilda out of the room, who was very alarmed and did exactly as asked. "Alright, we're gonna jump her with the car battery."
"You're what!?" Yaz asked.
"Jump her – it's fine. Clara and Rose, go and bring the van as close to the front door as possible, the jump leads are underneath the passenger seat, and then hook them up just like you were jump-start another car. Sally, you take Esther downstairs into the hallway, and Ryan help."
"Where do you want us?" the Astro Doctor asked, trusting her other self to know what best to do for Esther. She really wished they had a pair of defibrillators, but they hadn't brought a set from the TARDIS.
"I'm going to find my wire cutters and my gloves, you three go and find wires, preferably lamp wires; tear them out and break the lamp if you have to, we need an exposed end to use. The jump-leads will only get us so far…" They all scattered. Sally, fighting back tears she was so worried about Esther's wellbeing, teamed up with Ryan to carry Esther – who was thankfully still quite a small person – while Clara and Rose both teleported out of the room to sort everything out with the van. The Cosmic Doctor took off for her work benches, covered in machines and other devices, to find the wire cutters, and Yaz, Graham and the Astro Doctor fanned out into the rest of the house to attack the lamps.
Clara sat in the front of the van and lifted the handbrake so Rose could easily push it boot-first towards the door. She fished the jump-leads out from underneath the seat at the same time. The van jerked when its back wheels hit the porch step. Clara put the handbrake back on while Rose opened the engine compartment.
"What do you think happened?" Rose asked quietly, Ryan and Sally bringing Esther down the stairs behind them.
"No idea – hopefully she can tell us, if this works."
"And do you think it will?"
"If you can jump-start a car, you can probably jump-start a Lightning Girl," said Clara, "And I trust the Doctor. God knows what she's planning on doing with the serving fork, though." Rose went to help them finish the journey to the foot of the stairs, and shortly after the Cosmic Doctor came jumping down them with a pair of thick gloves on, holding some wire-cutters. She gave the cutters to Ryan, who hadn't a clue what to do with them, and then went to attach the jump leads to the van's battery.
"How do you take the costume off? We need exposed skin," she said while she did that.
"It's all one thing," Sally said.
"Well – Rose – can you rip an arm off?"
"You want me to rip Esther's arm off?" Rose asked.
"No! The costume's arm, so we can get to Esther's arm underneath!"
"I'll try," said Rose.
"Oswin won't be happy about you destroying that," Clara warned.
"She can make another one! It'll give her something to do," said the Doctor. Whatever material the costume was made of, Rose was able to rip at it, tearing away a whole arm. "Great!" The Doctor took the large crocodile-mouthed jump leads and attached them to Esther's left arm. Mattie reappeared carrying the large, copper serving fork.
"What do I do with this now?" she asked.
"Give it to the other Doctor," she ordered. Mattie nodded and went to do that. "Coo, go start the car, quickly!"
"Right, yeah," Clara nodded and climbed into the front seat of the van, taking out her keys to turn on the ignition. The first time, it stuttered and spat, obviously disrupted by the connection to Esther. The second time the same thing happened; it wasn't until the third attempt that she actually got the engine to start, letting the car sit. They waited with bated breath to see if this scheme would work, and then Esther gasped, waking and coughing.
"What happened?" Sally implored.
"I'll be back in a second," the Cosmic Doctor took her gloves and went back into the house, Clara leaning out through the open door to see what was going on.
"I… I, uh – what's going on? What's on my arm?" Esther asked woozily.
"Jump-leads from the van," Rose explained.
"The battery won't last long," she said, fretting.
"The Doctor's working on a more permanent solution, don't worry," Rose said.
"What happened?" Sally persisted.
"It was… it was the bombs, on the airships, it was Prometheus, making them… I went to their HQ, and… and I don't know, something… and I needed to escape, I just… I thought I was gonna die again…"
"You're not going to die," Rose said firmly, "This isn't your time. Trust me." Esther threatened to slip away again.
"Doctor!" Sally shouted through the house. Clara turned and revved the engine to see if that would help, but to her horror, the car died completely.
"Shit," she cursed, trying to start the engine again. The van was electric though, and Esther had been right, it really hadn't lasted long at all. It must take a lot of electricity to keep the fabled Lightning Girl running. Sally continued to shout.
"Bring her into the living room!" the Doctor called back. Rose pulled away the jump-leads and picked up Esther on her own, making it look very easy. Clara jumped out of the van and followed a frantic Sally into the living room, where the Doctor ordered for Esther to be placed on the sofa. In her gloved hands, the Doctor held the copper carving fork, stripped-down wires coiled around its prongs. The wire had come from a lamp in their bedroom, Clara recognised, but its end had been cut away by the wire-cutters and now it was plugged into the wall socket by the lobster tank. She pushed everyone else away to kneel by Esther's side. "Esther, can you hear me?" Esther nodded, but just barely. Everyone, including Mattie, crowded around the sofa to see what was going to happen. "Okay, I'm really sorry for what I'm about to do."
"What are you going to – ARGH!" Esther screamed when the Doctor stabbed her in the arm with the carving fork, then shouted for the Astro Doctor to turn on the plug socket. When she did that, Esther screamed again, and all the electrical devices began to fluctuate wildly. The television came on blaring brightly and Helix began talking overhead. "Are you kidding me!?"
"I know! I said I'm sorry, just try to stay calm, try to – Esther?" Esther had fallen into unconsciousness again, though. The Doctor found her sonic screwdriver and scanned the wounded Lightning Girl up and down, then breathed deeply. "She's gonna be fine now she's connected to the national grid. The only casualty here is going to be our next electric bill. Sal, did you hear me? She's going to be alright."
Clara touched Sally's shoulder and spoke to her softly, "Do you want me to get you some tissues?" Sally nodded and Clara went to retrieve a box of tissues from next to the egg chair.
"She said Prometheus did this," Sally repeated Esther's words.
"She said they were the ones who put the bomb on that rain machine earlier," Ryan added.
"It makes sense," said the Cosmic Doctor, "Smiles has been very publicly trying to create a counter-measure for the Lightning Girl for months. I guess he worked out how to do it."
"Doctor," Helix interrupted them, "Before I was disrupted my Miss Drummond's arrival, I discovered the ocular device transmissions were being routed to a facility in London. The facility belongs to a shell company of Prometheus Pharmaceuticals."
"A company owned by a megalomaniac billionaire obsessed with Manifests," Clara said, "Prometheus must be the ones making Xboost, they must be the ones circulating it to try and find someone with the power of immortality. And then they can sell immortality to the highest bidder."
"Just as I suspected!" the Cosmic Doctor announced, "Capitalism was the real villain all along."
"That must be why they're going after CyTech, too," Rose added, "Adam Mitchell's a Manifest, too, and he's almost immortal. No doubt he's also convinced Esther is one. And weren't the HCC doing the same thing? Engineering drugs to make the Manifest Crisis worse so that they could profit?"
"Don't Prometheus fund those Manifest prisons we heard about on the news earlier?" Yaz asked.
"Manifest Observation Complexes," said Clara, "Yeah, they do. They have more than enough money and sway to pay off the police, too. Think about it – the more Manifests they make, the more prisons for them are needed, et cetera…"
"It's the prison industrial complex, Coo," the Cosmic Doctor added. "That must be why people are being killed so violently, too. Torture is the quickest way to force the Manifest gene to trigger, and since they only want the immortal ones…"
"That's our next step, then," the Astro Doctor, "We'll go to this facility. It must be where they've taken Dexter Willard."
"I agree," said the Cosmic Doctor, "We can't let a worm like Will Smiles get his hands on the means to manufacture immortality. At least when the vampires do it there are nullifying side-effects; Sally can't even eat garlic bread."
"So it's decided," the Astro Doctor declared, "We'll all go to Prometheus's secret facility and put a stop to this conspiracy."
"I don't think so," said Rose, crossing her arms, "I think that you should probably stay here. All of you. And maybe Clara and I should go to Prometheus." Predictably, there was mass outrage from everybody in the room except Matilda, Sally, and Esther – though Esther was unconscious, so she didn't necessarily count.
"You can't seriously think-"
"-just sit by and watch-"
"-on your own with no backup-"
"-after everything he's done-"
"Alright, everybody be quiet," said Clara loudly with more authority than anybody was expecting; the Cosmic Doctor knew this was her 'teacher voice' she used to demand respect from unruly teens. And unruly adults as well, it seemed. "We do actually have neighbours, and you're all being very loud-" Shouting started again and continued until she clapped her hands and got up to stand next to Rose, "This is my house, so you will listen to me. Including you," she indicated her wife, who scoffed indignantly. "If he can do that to Esther and has hit squads of assassins hunting down Manifests to murder them, and has the police in his pocket, then none of you are safe in that facility."
"Excuse me, I'm a trained police officer," Yaz argued.
"That's great, Yaz, and not to sort of, belittle that or anything, but Rose and I basically can't die, and you all definitely can die, including the Time Lords," Clara said.
"Plus, this seems like a Manifest thing. The Manifests should probably go sort it. I mean, if we need anybody else we could always call…" Rose stopped to think of who they could call, but the list of Manifests they knew and could get in contact with was very small. "…Donna."
"We probably won't call Donna, though," said Clara.
"Adam?"
"No, he's too fragile, don't you remember when he got that paper cut?"
"You can't just expect us to sit here and wait while you go risking your lives," the Astro Doctor argued vehemently.
"But, they can't die, and you can, so," Mattie interrupted to speak.
"Yes," said Clara, "Matilda is right. But she should go to bed soon."
"It's a weekend!" Mattie protested, "And there's stuff happening."
"I also think you should stay behind," said Sally, most of her attention fixed on Esther, however, "I'm sure those two will be fine."
"And what do you think?" the Astro Doctor challenged her other self, getting very annoyed at people not listening to her.
"Me?" the Cosmic Doctor asked, "What do I think about…? Uh… well, as much as I hate to send her off on her own because I do miss her deeply whenever she isn't next to me, I think Clara and Rose are more than capable of dealing with one egomaniac. And he won't have countermeasures developed for them like he's built for Esther. He's been talking about those damn countermeasures for months."
"I can't believe this," the Astro Doctor shook her head.
"Maybe it's not a completely bad idea," said Graham, "I mean, the four of us split off a lot. And we can't teleport around willy-nilly like them."
"The argument is pointless because we'll just leave without you," Rose shrugged, indifferent, "Helix – where, exactly, is this secret lab of Prometheus's? Is there an address?" There was an address, and Helix smoothly gave Rose the details and some brief directions. She nodded as took in the information, "I think I can get us there."
"No! You can't just decide. I thought you lot love to vote on everything, anyway?" she challenged.
"Things have changed," said Rose coolly, "There aren't many of us left."
"Well… regardless, you can't just shut us out."
"All due respect, the four of you hanging out in my house doesn't sound like you're being shut out at all," Clara said.
"Urgh! This is a waste of time," Rose was annoyed, "Come on, let's just go." She touched Clara's arm, and in the split-second moment between her doing that and teleporting away, the Astro Doctor indignantly lunged for them, grabbed Clara, and all three vanished in a shimmer. Silence fell across the living room until Sally Sparrow – always one to enjoy the sound of her own voice – felt compelled to break it.
"That settles that, then."